I invite you to turn tonight in your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 16, 1st Samuel 16, we're reading verses 14 through 23 to the end of the chapter, and then next time we come to the great section on David and Goliath. I look forward to preaching that. Tonight we have David and Saul service here, you'll notice in 1st Samuel chapter 16, let's consider verses 14 to the end of the chapter page 305 this is the word of the lord now the spirit of the lord departed from saul and a harmful spirit from the lord tormented him and saul's servants said to him behold now a harmful spirit from god is tormenting you let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the liar and when the harmful spirit from god is upon you he will play it and you will be well so saul said to his servants provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me one of the young men answered behold i have seen the son of jesse the bethlehemite who is skillful in playing a man of valor a man of war prudent in speech and a man of good presence the lord is with him therefore saul sent his sent messengers to Jesse and said send me David your son who is with the sheep and Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul and David came to Saul and entered his servants and Saul loved him greatly and he became his armor bearer and Saul sent to Jesse saying let David remain in my service for he has found favor in my sight and whenever the harmful spirit from god was upon saul david took the lyre and played it with his hand so saul was refreshed and was well and the harmful spirit departed from him and there is the reading of god's word i think when we read narratives like this and we get descriptions of what is happening sometimes it's easy to think that what is happening we forget major periods of time come between what we have here as chapter breaks and the span of time can be years between these things and I say that because oftentimes there's a view that has been presented of God in the Old Testament that he's a vengeful and a wrathful God and that he simply flies off the handle at the least infraction and of course the God of the New Testament is love, and that divide that has been made was an ancient heresy made by Marcion called the Marcionite heresy. I want to show you tonight that there's a lot of continuity with this and to help you understand what exactly is happening in this perplexing section of Scripture as we read that a distressing spirit from the Lord, you can't miss that, a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled Saul. why would the lord send that and how does does the lord usually do that what do we what does this say about the larger work of the holy spirit right and his work of course in the life of his people in our day i want you to notice here the holy spirit as we look back on this and study this tonight i want you to remember that the holy spirit had come upon Saul and now we come tonight to this shocking verse that the Holy Spirit departed from Saul and that leads to the larger struggle that we have often had with the Old Testament that what is the Spirit's work in the Old Testament and how does it differ from the work today does he leave people for salvation how does that relate today to us and the immediate answer that I want to give the initial answer that I want to give to that question is you need to keep in mind as we're studying this that we are specifically looking at the office of king we are specifically looking at the lord and this great struggle to find a king and a king of whose choosing which has been the great struggle here in the book of first samuel but there are important things tonight to look at this and learn about how the spirit indeed the holy spirit is working in us and that's why i want you to see tonight the great truth that something we have to understand that god is most certainly by the holy spirit judging unbelief and it's through the blessing of his anointed one who we know who that is david looking at the greater david jesus through the anointing of him by the spirit that he has the power to bring true relief and i think you'll see that play out tonight as we look at this. I hope we look at this little passage tonight with prophet by the time we're done, and it will help us to understand the Spirit's work even more and to see how Jesus is a blessing to us. We read in verse 14 that verse. We read that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. Mind-blowing verse. a hard verse i found this hard this week to wrestle through when the spirit came upon saul to begin with it was not as we think when we immediately apply this as the renewing regenerating new birth kind of work of the holy spirit who seals somebody for the day of redemption bringing somebody out of darkness to light the particular phenomenon of the holy spirit's work we have studied so far here in the life of Saul was to empower him for the office anything good that we have seen Saul do because we have seen that he was not fit to be a king we have seen that he was not a leader that he was not even a really moral man anything that Saul did that was good was when the Holy Spirit rushed on him the good act was done when when he defeated the Ammonites when the Holy spirit came upon him and he went out finally as a king and led the people and defeated the ammonites but he was no leader was he and so it was the spirit who was coming upon him at times to lead israel to show god's great leadership of israel that he cared for israel and that he would do what he said he would do he would through the office of king deliver all his people from their enemies that's why all these psalms are talking about it that's his great promise to us he's going to deliver us from all of the enemies. But there's been something distressing that we've seen from Saul. He was completely disobedient to what the Lord commanded him to do. Remember, he made the unlawful sacrifice to begin with. After he was caught, he tried to blame everyone else. He was completely spiritually dead and ignorant of the whole thing. It was astonishing, really, as we looked at Saul's engagement with the whole Samuel's engagement and confrontation with Saul in the last chapter it was even worse he was commanded remember to destroy the Amalekites and what did he do he didn't do it all he didn't listen he was it was clear that Saul was going to chart out his own way Saul was going to do his own thing he was going to live his own life he was going to choose the path of sin when samuel came and confronted him they get into a big argument out on the field you did not obey the lord yes i did you did not yes i did stop it remember you can read it that was that was the previous chapter and then when he was confronted he makes this giant excuse well okay we kept the animals alive so that we could worship the lord that's what we were going to do with these animals we were going to worship the lord and everything that we've studied from saul was wrong it was outward it was outward to do the formal act but there was nothing inward you'll notice there um back in uh in chapter uh 16 and actually 15 where all these accomplishments of saul are actually talked about he has this great family he has this beautiful family it even would say things like and when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man he attached him him to himself Saul was all about appearance Saul was all about looking good everything was a show if he went to church he only went to church to be seen by others it was everything to be looked good outwardly and it was all a facade with Saul. Jesus talked a lot about this problem, you remember? For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first you clean the inside of the cup and the plate that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. so you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Jesus was constantly exposing this great problem of the outward appearance not being what is truly what's going on on the inside. So this is what Samuel's dealing with. Stop it, Saul. Has the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. What does that mean? Has the Lord delighted if you bring all of these sheep to the worship and you do the sacrifices to a T when you rejected exactly what He told you to do? That's hypocritical. That's stubbornness. And that stubbornness is as iniquity. Do you feel bad for Saul? Let me summarize what we've studied. He doesn't listen to the Lord. He's going to do whatever he wants to do. He's not going to take responsibility for it. He refuses to repent of his sin until he gets caught. He makes every excuse under the sun. He blames everyone else. He blames Israel for everything that's happened. And yet, looked like the greatest king ever. Now, verse 14, this is as if the Lord said, remember what he said? I'm tearing the kingdom away from you. That tearing is I'm removing, in a sense, this is the truth of it, I'm removing the Spirit who has come upon you for the office. And I'm giving it to somebody better than you. But it's more. Now we come tonight to something else that's happened. The rebellion brought something else. A spirit of judgment. A spirit of judgment. I think we're supposed to feel the pain of this. Israel wanted a king. They got just what they wanted. He was ruining Israel. He's not delivering the people. He's failing and leading the people to the Lord. This is a disaster of a choice. They are completely rebellious. And now they're suffering the consequences. Now I think this is a huge moment because we're so programmed to say today that God is love and that God is love. and that God never judges. And that's exactly what this passage is confronting and having us think about that today it's so unimaginable that God would ever render a judgment on anyone. That's how programmed we are when we say that God is love. But I have something important to say tonight. If you refuse to listen to the Lord, if you refuse all His calls, if you refuse His ways, if you want to remain in unbelief, if you want to harden your heart, if you want to continue in sin, refusing the servants who preach to you, you most certainly open yourself up to judgment. You most certainly open yourself up to judgment. This is Romans 1. The Bible's complete with this description. And here is where God does something specifically to judge this office and king of Israel's choice. Notice verse 15. Everyone recognizes this has happened. Everyone. Saul's servants said to him, said and go to him, surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. In other words, they're talking. You're being judged. What are we seeing here in Saul? This distressing spirit, without any doubt, was bringing upon him serious psychological distress that he had become, as a leader, unstable, hostile, angry, go right down the line. He has now become an unstable psychological figure. It is really a remarkable moment, isn't it? He's going to be throwing spears at David to kill him soon. He's going to do everything he can to kill God's anointed. So full of panic and so full of distress and worry about his kingdom. It's really a remarkable moment as to what their solution is, isn't it? What do you need? You need good music. You need good music. You need something to console you. you need something to calm you you need something to numb you you need something to take away this judgment so let our master verse 16 now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp and it shall be that he will play with his hand when the distressing spirit of god is upon you and you shall be well how do you take that that good advice i think it's terrible advice i think it's awful advice i think it's exactly the problem demonstrated in the people that's the problem with saul um everyone knows to this day the power of good music this is why all the wars in the church are always around music that is it it is always around me why why you know why because music has a powerful overtake of the emotions and calms. It takes stress levels down. It replaces all the bad emotions with things that feel good. It's powerful. I love music. Music can be a blessing from the Lord, can't it? But it has the power to alleviate like a medication. It can take away stress. It can take away distress you can play a song and you know it can change your whole mood you know this about music you know the power of music and that's why people base today our church attendance solely on that factor we were so sensual today driven that really you ask people what is the greatest thing by which they want to attend church and it's how they feel with the music if we feel good then we've had something well what's the problem with it not really music that's the problem is it can be the heart is not getting to the heart of matters is not getting to the heart of matters it's the same superficial approach to god that saul was giving in the heart of the people. What they're suggesting here is the same problem. Does God delight in great music as in obedience? You could substitute that. Does God delight in your great music when you're disobedient to his word? We're not getting to issues. We're masking issues. Real, deep issues. I wonder if the Lord looks down on great musical performances and says the same thing Samuel said to Saul. Has the Lord great delight in music that lifts up your heart while there's no regard for His Word? Is that not a fair application? Of course it is. That medications are needed that people go through in this life. They have real struggles. No one is questioning that and I want to make sure that as I say what I'm about to say, that there are real chemical imbalances when people face stress and anxiety in life and some people because of that have to take medication. I say that and I understand that. Okay? But what I'm about to say is that's not the only thing that happens. The reality is that man's broken relationship with God, His unbelief, his rebellion here, especially in Saul, was a deep spiritual problem that brought all this on. It was a deep spiritual problem that brought all this on. And we know this. If people remain, and you know this in just basic life, if people remain unrepentant of sin in your life, and you want to keep it, and you want to continue to go practice it, and you refuse to hear, what does it do? What does it do to you? It stresses you out. It'll wreck you. All kinds of distresses will come upon you. One pastor said, unrepentant sin is often the cause for emotional, psychological, and even physical distress in your life. That is absolutely true. That is absolutely true. David said it. When I refuse to acknowledge my sins to you, remember what he said, your hand was heavy on me day and night. Holding on to sin can bring distress. Now that may not be the exact same thing that Saul's facing here, but the principle's the same. Often the distresses that we bring upon ourselves are due to sin that plagues us and it affects everything. It affects everyone. The selfish actions that you make affect everyone. And they hurt people. They hurt people. Saul was hurting Israel with his selfishness. Here's what troubles me. Just go to the music. Really? That good advice? How about repent, Saul? How about repent? This is what Samuel was saying to him. Turn from this. God doesn't want lip service. God is after your hearts. He sees the heart. You want sincerity and truth. Sincerity and truth. Paul said the same thing to the Corinthians. I, as it is, I rejoice. Not because you're grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief, listen to this, godly grief, everyone says today, keep your self-esteem high and never feel, no, godly grief is good. Why? It produces a repentance that leads to salvation. without regret whereas worldly grief produces death puts you right on that path for we see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you but also what eagerness to clear yourselves what indignation what fear what longing what zeal what punishment why do you think god inspired confess your sins to me and i'm faithful and just to do something for you to forgive you and take away the burden. Take away the distress of the filthiness because you're contaminated. Contamination brings a great distress. He will lift you up. He will encourage. He will help you. But to find relief in everything else is all the wrong thing. Here's where something beautiful happens in God's providence. it's remarkable because they say, Saul says to them, bad thing, go find a man of your choosing. And you want to go, again? Is anyone going to ever ask for a man of God's choosing in this book? Is anyone ever going to ask for a king and a man of God's choosing? That's the question. Well, that's where we are in this great moment because now this giant contrast is made. In other words, the Lord's distressing spirit was given so that they would see clearly what a king anointed by God with his spirit should be. Contrary to Saul, the very last verse before chapter 16, did you notice there in verse 13, The very last thing that was said is that Samuel took the horn and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. The Spirit of the Lord was going nowhere. He can't be taken, is what it's saying. And David would know that. David would understand that. So we're looking at the kingship here. We're looking at something powerful here. Notice this is what happens then. Saul says in verse 17, provide me now a man who can play well give me a soother bring him to me and one of the servants answered and said look i've seen again think of providence i've seen the son of jesse the bethlehemite who's skillful in playing a mighty man of valor a man of war prudent in speech and and notice what everything that's said of david here um uh that is so remarkable about david a man of war prudent in speech and a man of good presence and the lord is with him what is everyone recognizing about david he's the fragrance of christ everywhere because there's one statement that stands out there the lord is with him the lord is with this man you get this description contrary to saul in every way of a courageous fearless young man his speech is wise he's not heady or proud he's prudent he's good notice this but the key here the lord is with this man the blessing of the lord is upon him the shock of the passage is this tonight what brought relief to saul was david himself think about this it was david yes his music that brought relief in god's providence the surprise of the passages the strange irony is god's choice of a king becomes the one to relieve the rejected king that's what we should feel here god's choice of a king is the one bringing relief to israel's mess god's king think of this lot is put in service to israel's disaster of a king god's king was the only one who could bring relief to this mess is that any different with us left to ourselves we only get the kind of approach here of Saul with God that's what the church wants today this is what we'll get what can we do to bring relief to this mess to make worship great to have our whole list of how to feel better in all of this and this is what you'll have. What a king David was. He wrote a song. I acknowledge my sins to you and I don't cover my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. What a king. And what songs did he write? God chose David. God chose to bless David. And the character descriptions that we have are all because the Spirit was with him. Two kings. One of Israel's choosing. One of God's choosing. And I want you to know there will only be one with whom that blessing comes through whom. There will only ever be one. What does all this show us tonight? David's greater son. How can you miss it? How can you miss it? He is the one who gives light to every man coming into the world in their darkness. In that way, what we need most is the kind of response that He's after. A humble, repentant, trusting heart in the one who has come to serve us. One pastor asked, Are you troubled? Are you gripped by ungodly passions? Are you worried about all the anxieties of life? Guilt for sin? Jesus is not just, and I say now, playing a harp for you tonight. Jesus is not just playing a harp nicely for you tonight. His words are the greatest song of deliverance in the Scriptures. His words have the power to speak life to you. What a tragedy if we won't hear Him. You know what God told Ezekiel years ago as a preacher? Behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument. For they hear what you say, but they don't do it. Jesus has played for you today. Did you know that? Jesus has played for you today. A beautiful song has been played. Did you hear it? A beautiful song of salvation. He made beautiful music to your ears today, if you heard it. He answered your distress. He knows all of the pains. He knows all of the foolish choices. He knows everything that you've done. And today, He's played a song of salvation for you from this pulpit. May we not like Saul. Hear, think about this. Hear the voice that has been spoken today. The song that has been played. If you believe in Jesus, if you have come to Him, you know that God has sent you relief in this day. Through the man of His choosing, the blessing through the King of His choosing. He's blessed you with His presence among us. He has put Him in service to us as He came and laid down His life. And He has promised that He will relieve all of us and help all those who call out upon His name in true repentance and faith. The Lord is our salvation. The Lord is our song. May we hear Him. That's the beauty of this. And the Lord promises all who come, when He gives you the Holy Spirit, He'll never be taken. What does Ephesians say? When the Spirit comes for salvation in somebody, you are sealed for the day of redemption. He can't be lost. He can't be taken. This is what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus. You need to be born again. And only by the Spirit's power as He gives life to the heart can you hear and believe the Gospel. But when He has sealed you for the day of redemption, He is the deposit guaranteeing the inheritance. So what a song has been sung today. What notes have been played. We should praise Him that the Lord has answered us in this day and saved us as He's promised to do. Let's pray to Him. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for helping us through this passage tonight and for giving us direction. We know it's challenging and we know it's hard, But the work of Your Spirit in our hearts, when we hear Him, when we receive the relief that He brings, it brings salvation. For Saul, it was all artificial. He would only hear the outward note. He would only hear the outward note and soon would be throwing spears. But we think better things, O Lord, of Your people here. That all those who hear with profit to their soul are saved. And that song becomes sweeter and sweeter and sweeter each and every day. Thank You, O Father, for Your kindness to us and for blessing us with Your inspired Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.